Ex-Microsoft Employees Raise $2.3 Million for Spindle, a Neighborhood Newsfeed

Spindle Labs, Inc. has raised $2.3 million for a new iOS app, launched today, that combines information from local businesses and your social networks, as well as your location and the time of day, to show you what’s happening around you.

The app also lets you filter the information by theme, like “nightlife” or search for and zoom in on particular locations. You can also get updates from specific places by liking them on Facebook or by adding them to your list of favorites. Friends can send each other recommendations and see each others’ activity feeds and likes.

This screenshot shows comments from friends about a particular museum exhibit and a fall cocktail menu rather than just a list of nearby museums and bars.

The tool is currently available in Boston and San Francisco and will be rolled out to other cities soon.

“What we’re talking about is the ability to understand and assess how interesting and useful any piece of content is to any person at any time and place,” explained Spindle co-founder and CEO Pat Kinsel. “Because Spindle is constantly improving its understanding of your context, the opportunity to expand the universe of local queries is endless.”

Kinsel and co-founders Alex Lambert and Simon Yun all worked together as engineers and managers at Microsoft’s New England Research and Development (NERD) center in Cambridge, MA.